Jury sent to deliberate for Santa Cruz murder defendant

SANTA CRUZ -- John Bruce Clauer would not have killed 30-year-old Heather Stearns because he had a relationship with her, a defense attorney said during closing arguments Friday.

Clauer, 66, is charged with murder in the death of Stearns, whose body was found decomposed inside his East Cliff Drive apartment in April 2011. If convicted, he faces life in prison.

Attorneys presented their final arguments to jurors Friday after more than two weeks of testimony.

Defense attorney Zach Schwarzbach did not deny that Clauer knew about Stearns' body was inside his apartment, but he argued Clauer did not tell police about the body because it would have meant acknowledging Stearns' death.

"People, when they're confronted with a terrible loss, they react in weird ways," Schwarzbach said.

Schwarzbach pointed out other instances where people have lived with decomposed bodies for periods of time for various reasons.

But prosecutor Jeff Rosell contended otherwise.

"It's unusual, it doesn't happen," Rosell said.

Rosell argued that Clauer didn't show much care for Stearns after her death. He showed jury members a photo of a blue trash container next to the bed where Stearns' body was found.

"This person that loved her so much was going to put her body in a blue trash bin and dump her somewhere else," he said.

He reminded jurors that Clauer had a history of abusing women, including Stearns.

"The lady that he loved so much he took a hammer to her and told her to 'shut the (expletive) up' in front of the police and sent her to the hospital," Rosell said.

"The bottom line is that when you learn about the facts and use reasonable inference, all the evidence points to the defendant," Rosell said.

Stearns' body was found inside Clauer's East Cliff Drive apartment after neighbors noticed a smell coming from inside. Neighbors were able to enter the apartment and found Stearns' body.

An autopsy revealed her body had been decomposing for at least two weeks. Forensic pathologist Richard "Doc" Mason testified about the autopsy, saying she could have died from a series of fatal injuries to her head, neck, chest and abdomen.